First things first… No I do not own these amazing characters. They are simply Stephanie Meyer's voodoo dolls to which I can manipulate and torture. Muahaha.

Haunted in New York (BPOV)

Chapter 2: Taxi to the dark side

After what felt like hours of waiting in the pick up zone of the airport we finally managed to catch a taxi before a businessman in a fancy suit could hop in one before us. We threw our luggage in the back and jumped in, hurrying to make sure we weren't left without our bags.

"Where to ladies?" The wrinkly old man who looked like he had to be over 100 years old asked us.

I of course ventured off into the corners of my crazy brain thinking about how there should be a law that says people over a certain age cannot drive any more for safety reasons. I'm sure if I hired a few lawyers on the topic it could probably pass… like once a person reaches sixty years old every five years they have to have a vision test to renew their licenses and then once they are seventy they have to take driving tests to renew it after that. That's not too harsh is it?

I was pulled away from lala land when the pixie sitting next to me practically sang the address of our hotel. Alice's voice was definitely hypnotic. She was one of the prettiest human beings I had ever had contact with and most of the time being around her made me feel inadequate and ugly but she always new when I was feeling that way and changed my mind. Sometimes she did it from bribes but most of the time they were threats… and if I knew anything about Alice it was that she never back down from a threat…

"The Mark, 25 East 77th Street." She giggled afterwards a bit looking out the windows as the driver began moving.

"You know I could show you around the city if you would like, all the most visited places and the most historic. I can even drive you down Times Square." He asked and I could see the mischief hiding behind his eyes. I started to say "no thanks" but Alice was practically vibrating in her seat.

"Oh yes please! And I'm getting kind of hungry; maybe we could stop by a restaurant? But not a tourist restaurant… the kind of place that people who live here are regulars at. You know what I mean?" She was practically busting at the seams with excitement. I shook my head rolling my eyes. I had read so many things about taxi drivers being thieves and trying to run the meter for as long as possible to get some cash, and the main victims? Excited teenage girls that are alone for the first time in the Big Apple.

I decided that my input was not needed so I happily kept my mouth shut, knowing that if I did choose to say something I was going to be shunned by the great and powerful sitting next to me.

The driver nodded to us and started his voyage to all the sweet spots of this "Big Apple."

"Oh Bella, this is so amazing! I'm so glad that we got to do this together! I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else in the world! We are going to have so much fun! The tour that starts tomorrow is supposed to be magnificent! I mean it, don't roll your eyes they will get stuck that way and you will never get a boyfriend; I've heard so many great reviews of them! This is going to be the best two weeks of our lives! I know it." She rambled on and I couldn't help but smile as she went on. Alice's view on the world was so pure and innocent that she made everyone she was around believe the same thing.

What can I say; the little thing was awfully persuasive.

Our tour for this evening, aka grandpa cabby, showed us all around New York, we drove by Grand Central Station and the Empire State building, central park and the 9/11 memorial. Times square was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Just looking at the flow of all the people and the lights were by far my favorite thing that we had seen so far. He then dropped us off right next to a huge restaurant in the middle of Times Square called Dallas BBQ. He must have read our minds because bar-b-que was definitely mine and Alice's favorite food. Period.

He said that he would wait for us and we have him a generous tip to keep our meter running. Sure he was a scam artist but we were sure getting a fun time out of it, so why not?

I was practically jolted back when we walked into the building. The sweet smell of buttery corn bread, sweet brown sugary BBQ sauce and the amazing aroma of fresh out of the cooker pulled pork. My mouth was filled with saliva and I hadn't even seen any of the food yet. We walked forward and met a beautiful woman with long wavy bright red hair. "Just two this evenin'?" She asked and we both smiled and nodded to her. We followed her past the podium and up an escalator. She brought us through the collage of chairs and table to sit us right next to the window showing us the beautiful times square and even better, our cab with our belongings.

"My good friend Laurant is going to be your waiter but can I get yall some thing to drink in the meantime?" She asked smiling.

"Water please." I said smiling to the red headed beauty.

"Sweet tea please!" Alice chirped excitedly. The woman nodded and walked away. We were both talking non-stop to each other we were so excited. "Look how amazing that dessert looks!" We would say and then something new would catch our eye that we hadn't seen before. We were like kids on Christmas and nothing was going to ruin our mood.

When Laurant eventually came over to take our order I got the Carolina Pulled Pork and Alice got the Double Crispy Onion Burger. How she was still so tiny, I would never understand.

We gushed over the lights and the people and the food and anything else that would pop into our minds at any given time. We were classic tourists but come on… This was both of our first times out of dreary old Washington State in our entire lives.

We finally finished our food and waddled out of the restaurant with happy and sleepy smiles. We made our way to the taxi once more and we were off to our hotel.

We thanked grandpa and gave him a hefty tip once more grabbing our things and making our way into the gorgeous hotel. We had only gotten rooms here because Alice's parents were the most generous people in the entire world and had to make sure we were both in safe places. I guess the more money somewhere is the safer? I shrugged not caring all too much because this was, like Alice said earlier, the best time of our lives.

We were about to walk in when I realized I forgot my cell phone on the seat of the cab not even thinking about it and ran back outside to retrieve it. I stood completely statuesque staring at Mr. Darcy holding my bedazzled pink zebra print phone in his magnificent hands.

I wasn't sure if I should be pleasantly surprised or terrified that this stranger I met on my plane was following me. After all New York City was one of the biggest cities in the world… this couldn't be an accident. Could it?

He put on the most breathtaking crooked smirk I had ever seen and I couldn't help but be torn away from my inner monologue for the moment. I smiled a little back and laughed uncomfortably. "Um, are you following me Mr. Darcy? Because I'm sure I never told you where I was going… And definitely not when I would be here. So you have some explaining to do." I said awkwardly reaching for my lifeline in the palm of his hand.

He released my phone slowly, almost as if he didn't want to in the first place and looked back at me. "Well you see ma'am…" He said in what sounded to be a flawless British accent, "I am also staying at this hotel. After all it is the best in the city." He winked at me after he was finished. "But sadly I must cut this reunion short because I have a dinner date I must attend in less than thirty minutes, and have you seen this New York traffic?" He said once more with the same smirk walking past me into the hotel.

Well that was quite an interesting day…

And I had no idea how interesting the night was going to get…

Thanks for reading! I will try and update both of my stories ASAP.